Herschel Supply opens flagship store in Vancouver

I was commissioned by Omer Arbel to create a larger than life-sized, figurative sculpture for the new Herschel Supply Co. flagship store. Titled “Big Pants,” it is the 6-foot, white terracotta sculpture in the above photo standing among a family of other figurative sculptures.

It’s clear, this is an art-forward concept space. Scattered throughout the store are life-sized, figurative sculptures created by a variety of Canadian artists. All the pieces are incredibly textural and organic, such as the … female figure, … in clay, sculpted in five separate parts that were assembled after firing, by Ellen Scobie.

The 5,000-square-foot shop carries the world’s largest selection of Herschel products.

There’s also a parade of humanlike figures exhibited at the front of the store—some sculpted from stone, some basket-woven, some carved from cedar, and so on—that Herschel commissioned from various Canadian artists.

Lyndon Cormack, who launched Herschel with his brother Jamie nine years ago, tells the Straight during a tour of the shop,